>> Hi, everybody.
I'm NASA's Josh Byerly here in Mission Control, and I'm joined
by my friend Chris Edelen,
who is actually the Expedition 34 Lead Fly Director,
and that means he's got a fairly busy job
over the last five months or so.
But Chris is, you know, we're getting ready to wrap
up Kevin Ford, Evgeny Tarelkin, and Oleg Novitskiy.
You know, the time's almost done onboard the Space Station.
So talk a little bit about what this crew has done and,
you know, what you have been up to.
>> Chris Edelen: Okay.
Well, it's been a very busy increment.
The focus has been primarily on research and utilization,
putting the Space Station to work.
In fact, the primary focus of the crew
and their motto is reflected in their crew patch
"from the Earth, for the Earth"; and that reflects their desire
to leave the confines of the Earth's gravity field to get
above the atmosphere and to live and work in space
and to conduct research that not only advances the agencies'
exploration goals but also benefits all of humanity.
>> Josh Byerly: So talk about, they set a record -- right --
for number of hours spent working on science utilization.
Talk a little bit about what they've done and some
of the big things they're worked on.
>> Chris Edelen: Okay.
Yeah, and that's right.
We've -- we're on track to set a record for total number
of utilization hours, and that's NASA speak
for scientific experiments and research.
>> Josh Byerly: Right.
>> Chris Edelen: And we also set a record for one time hours
in a specific week; so that really shows how the station
program is maturing and we're reaching the point we've gone
from a focus on assembly operations now to utilizations
so that the taxpayers get a return on their investment
for the -- for the cost of building station.
So again, we're -- we're learning how to more effectively
and efficiently operate the station's systems to free
up more time for research.
I'll give you a couple specific examples
of some exciting experiments that are going on,
onboard the station right now.
One of them is called CSLM, that's Coarsening
of Solid Liquid Mixtures; and that's an experiment that flew
up on the Spacex Dragon.
And here you can see Chris Hatfield working on CSLM
in the microgravity science glove box.
This is -- this is a material science experiment
that examines how molten metals solidify,
and in the solidification process and dendrites are formed
in the coarsening of the minerals.
And the dendrites are -- they're little tree-shaped structures,
microscopic structures in the crystal; and they affect the --
the physical properties, the strength
and the density of the material.
So on Earth it's -- there are various processes at play,
such as sedimentation and convection;
but we can eliminate those effects by, you know,
casting this metal on orbit.
So that -- that's the goal of CSLM is to --
to do the casting without those interfering effects of gravity,
and then take the -- the resulting materials back
to Earth and examine them
so that we can better understand how to --
how to make metals such as engine blocks or turbine blades.
If we better understand the physical processes
of coarsening, we can build better materials.
>> Josh Byerly: There's some fish onboard too, aren't there?
>> Chris Edelen: That's right.
We flew up 32 Medaka fish on the 32S Soyuz back in October
with -- with the crew, and they were living
in the aquatic habitat facility in the Japanese module.
>> Josh Byerly: Which is like an aquarium.
>> Chris Edelen: That's right.
It's a high-tech space aquarium,
and so this is a Japanese experiment.
The -- it's -- the acronym is most for Medaka osteoclast.
And the purpose of the experiment is
to study how the bones are built and destroyed in zero gravity
without the effects of Earth's gravity.
The osteoclast control the building up process of bones,
and so -- so by studying this in 0G,
we can better understand what genes and --
are at work in the production and destruction of bones
and how removing gravity can effect that.
And, of course, we want to understand these things
so that -- so that we can keep our crews healthy during long
duration space flight.
But there's all kinds of benefits and applicability
to Earth for people with osteoporosis
and other bone diseases
to better understand the basic processes
of how osteoclasts and osteoblasts work.
>> Josh Byerly: So why don't we look
at the five months you've been the lead fly director for 34.
Has it been busy?
Has it been -- I mean, has it gone by pretty quickly?
How has it been?
>> Chris Edelen: It's gone by more quickly
than I thought it would.
>> Josh Byerly: [laughter]
>> Chris Edelen: And, in fact,
the crew has said the same thing, that each week seems
like about a day because it just flies by.
They're very busy onboard, but things have gone very smoothly.
We've been able to accomplish all the research objectives
that we wanted to.
We've had a total of 166 experiments on this increment,
with over 400 principle investigators.
>> Josh Byerly: Wow.
>> Chris Edelen: So we've gotten a lot of good science done; and,
again, that was the primary goal;
and so it's very gratifying to have completed that.
>> Josh Byerly: So last question for you.
You know, as you look back on the five months
that you spent working on this unit, what's been sort
of the biggest -- what do you think is the biggest thing
that you're proud of -- most proud of; and then what's been,
like, the biggest surprise you've had?
>> Chris Edelen: Okay.
Well, the thing I'm most proud of is my team.
>> Josh Byerly: Yeah.
>> Chris Edelen: Not only the guys on orbit
that have done just great work,
but the people here to the ground.
As Increment Lead Flight Director, I've been privileged
to work with a team of lead flight controllers,
some of which are here in Mission Control,
others are in Palla's Operation Center in Huntsville,
and the other international partner control centers
around the world.
So that's been -- that's been the most gratifying part is just
being part of just an excellent team that has the same vision
to advance the calls of human space exploration.
>> Josh Byerly: Yeah.
Well, Chris, thank you for your time.
You know, if you want to learn more about everything
that Expedition 34 has worked on, you can also log
on to the NASA website at www.nasa.gov slash station.
Take a look at Ford and Tarelkin and Novitskiy,
and also take a look at what's ahead for the crew that's coming
up at the end of the month
that will join Expedition 35 in progress.
Of course, they've got a ton of science going on as well.
Maybe they will set some records too.
So thanks for joining us.